Is it easy to grab a bull by the horn and force it to drink water in a well?…. That might not be an easy task even if the bull could be thirsty.

When the populace of Northern Uganda begun experiencing relative peace after the 20 years of Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency (LRA – popularly known as KONY 2012), there was need to restore the degraded landscape where a semi-scorched earth policy was used by both Ugandan Militia and the LRA rebels.

The Ugandan militia cleared vegetation and set fires in woodlands annually for 20 years so that they could expose the LRA rebels from their hideouts and for easy visibility if the rebels were attacking the Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDP). The rebels engaged in massive lumbering and charcoal production in the forest and woodlands to exchange with ammunition with Sudan government.

The IDPs also did not spare vegetation in vicinity of the camps and the remaining scattered trees in woodlands upon return home and trade in forest produce was the only source of deriving a livelihood all of which exacerbated the weather of the region.

Having defeated and driven away the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels from Northern Uganda, Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) were also having some rest in their barracks as the people resettled to their original homestead. As people resettled, their immediate priority were food, healthcare and educating their children. This required avenues where they could make quick money. Most of them believed that afforestation or agroforestry was not one avenue to derive quick money to meet their immediate needs though trade in forest produce was one of their best avenues of survival since agricultural productivity where affected by unreliable weather given the prolonged drought and frequent floods experienced. As we left the camps to resettle in our original homes, we were not entitled to food ration we enjoyed in the camps given by United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP).

Through our face to face outreach in homesteads, schools and public meetings, use of mass media (Tree Talk Magazine and Radio Talk shows) the community and children in schools where motivated and therefore got engaged in massive afforestation drive through which over 3 million trees where grown in households and schools between 2008 and 2011, more than 1500 energy saving stoves constructed in households, 500 school teachers trained, Local Environment Committee formed among other key result areas with funding from USAID under Wildlife, Landscape and Development for Conservation (WILD) Project.

Accessing military barracks in Uganda during and after the LRA war if you are a civilian is very difficult, like castrating a dog. Since the government militia participated in degrading our landscape and won the war, there was need to reach to them in their various barracks to convince them to get involved in restoration processes in the degraded landscape since the barracks also had vast hectares of land.

Armed with data/information on the extend of degradation in our landscapes we dared to visit Pajimo Army Barracks in Kitgum and made to wait at the quarter guard (gate) for 6 hours being interrogated for our motives of visit. It is through this 6 hours interrogation that I realized the power of passion; that if you are driven by passion, you will never cowardice and never run out of words however tough a question might be asked.

When given opportunity to meet and discuss with the Brigade Commander of the barracks, he got convinced that the military indeed must be part of the restoration and rehabilitation process of post-war landscape and also apologized on behalf of the entire army and pledge immediate involvement of all the barracks under his charge if we could provide the seedlings they required. Together with the Commander and my fellow colleagues, we immediately embarked on a reconnaissance of the barrack to do site species matching and it is here that I saw some of the weapons I feared there sound during the war.

When asked why he accepted us to enter and took us round the barracks, the commander told us that first, we were young, looked harmless and secondly that we had a strong justification for immediate action and that that was the best way of showing to us his commitment. But we also later realized that he underwent University education and partly why it was easy to have him convinced.

To date, all the barracks in Kitgum and Lamwo District have a minimum of 2hectares of woodlots, there is a Tree Nursery in Banabana barracks where they raise seedlings for sale and own planting, tree canopy is now helping them hide the ammunitions and able to meet their energy requirements, construction materials and diet enriched given the fruit trees we donated.

When I visited the barracks during Christmas of 2013, I was humbled. The commander told me that the greatest achievement in his 35 year military career was defeating Kony rebels and the trees he planted in the barracks. That he will never regret the orders he gave to his soldiers to plant trees in the barracks and that once he retired, all he will miss in the barracks are the trees.

The sight of his soldiers feeding on fruits brings him great joy. That when food ration for soldiers delays, he is no longer stressed because he is sure they will feed on the fruits as an option for some time. He tells me that if I am willing, he could take me to other barracks to do the same and that with the relative peace we are enjoying now in Uganda, barracks must be re-greened and all soldiers and civilians must plant fruits trees in their individual homes.

Photo: The author (front) and Ugandan soldiers loading seedlings from the author’s nursery to be planted at the first barracks

Blogpost and photo by Joseph Otim, a Forest Supervisor at National Forestry Authority (Kampala, Uganda) – jpotim(at)gmail.com